


ascendance

by twistedsky



Series: project queer [3]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Established Relationship, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-09 15:17:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11671713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedsky/pseuds/twistedsky
Summary: Finn bears the mark of the gifted, but his gift hasn't manifested yet. Until now.





	ascendance

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is the third written for Project Queer--a fic project where everyone is gay, lesbian, bi, pan, trans, ace, etc etc. Explicit or not.
> 
> Prompt: Star Wars-The Force Awakens+superpowers

Finn's gift takes the longest to manifest.

He bears the mark of the gifted, and yet when people ask him what his gift is, all he can do is smile and shrug, and try to explain to them that he doesn't have one.

Sometimes, they don't believe him.

Poe and Rey always have though, and for that they are more than just his loves, they're his best friends.

Rey's gift is strength, and Poe's gift is flight--broad, beautiful wings that grow out of his back upon his call.

They've all pledged their loyalty to the Resistance, and there are times when Finn wishes he could be more helpful.

"You're perfect as you are," Poe says, and Rey agrees without hesitation.

"You're a little biased," he points out.

"Not in the slightest," Rey says before leaning over to kiss his cheek. "You have a place here, and you would even if we weren't here."

"I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you," Finn says, and Poe just shakes his head.

"Neither would we," Poe says, and reaches for his hand, squeezing it gently.

"Your gift will come," Rey assures him firmly. "But it won't make a difference in how much we love you," she promises.

Finn believes that they believe that, but sometimes he feels like something is missing.

It's not about them, or their love. It's something in him that's missing. He's not even sure it's the lack of his gift. He thinks it might be simpler than that--he hasn't quite found what he's destined to do. He wants to help people, and he needs to find his path.

~~

Poe comes home from a mission screaming and writhing in pain. They have to sedate him quickly. He doesn't understand the truth of what has happened yet, and when he awakens, it will break his heart.

Poe's wings are broken, twisted in ways that he'll never recover from. This is what the doctor says.

Finn is next to Poe in medical, and he can barely keep his eyes open, but there he is. He refuses to leave his side.

"I should have been there," Finn says when Rey returns from a trip to see Skywalker.

"It's not your fault," Rey says, and her face is scrunched up angrily, like she's blaming herself.

Finn can read her easily, and he knows she blames herself.

That's okay, he thinks, because he blames himself too.

He struggles to overcome a yawn, and Rey looks at him. "You need to sleep."

"No, I have to be here."

"You'll be useless if he wakes up. He's going to need us, and right now, you're exhausted. You've been here for two days." Finn blinks in surprise. He'd lost track of time.

Rey looks down at Poe, and reaches a hand toward Poe's covered wings, but doesn't touch them.

"He'll never be the same," Finn says.

"No," Rey sighs. "He won't be."

It breaks Finn's heart, and he's angrier than ever that his gift hasn't manifested. He could have been there to watch Poe's back. He should have been there.

"Sleep," Rey says again. "At least sleep in the chair. I'll stay awake. If he wakes up, then I'll wake you. I promise."

"I--" Finn starts to say, but Rey is a force of nature, and she's not going to let him wear himself thin like this.

She pushes him into a chair, and drapes a small blanket over him. "Sleep," she says.

"You're always telling me what to do," Finn says fondly, and Rey smiles sadly at him.

"Because you need me to do it," Rey says softly. "We need each other, remember?" she reaches out her hand and takes Finn's in her own.

"I love you," he says.

"I love you too," she replies. "Now, sleep."

~~

Rey is easily a hypocrite.

"Go to sleep," Finn says. "You need to rest."

Rey shakes her head slowly, sluggishly. "I can't. I have to--"

"Go to bed," Finn says softly, nudging her onto a chair. "Sleep."

"No," she says, and Finn is struck by deja vu.

"Come on," Finn says, rubbing away tears on Rey's cheek.

Rey struggles, but it doesn't take much for her to fall asleep.

When you love someone, you push yourself to your limits.

When Poe wakes up, he'll be in pain for a long time, and he'll never fly again.

Finn settles in a chair next to the bed, and puts his hands on Poe's.

Poe doesn't move, because the painkillers have him knocked out.

Finn tells him jokes and stories, and the newest Resistance gossip. Poe loves his stories, loves him, loves Rey.

And yet--Finn is terrified that he's truly lost something he'll never recover from. It doesn't change the way that Finn feels about him, and it never could. Finn's afraid it'll change the way that Poe looks at himself.

Finn stays like this for hours, barely remembering to eat the food that's set in front of him.

He falls asleep like this, his hands on Poe.

"Finn?" he hears, and someone shakes him awake.

"Poe--" Finn wants to hug him, to reassure him that everything is going to be okay. Poe is lying on his stomach, and he's probably in an immense amount of pain. It has to be horrible, and all Finn wants to do is relieve his pain.

"What happened?" Poe asks.

"You were attacked," Finn explains--"Your wings--"

"They're all tight," Poe says groggily. "Are they wrapped? Can you unwrap them? It's uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry," Finn says, and he sees Rey start to move and wake up.

"Poe?" She says, and she rushes forward, grasping for the hand Finn isn't holding.

Poe tries to turn on his back, but he's stuck, so he can't. "I can't even retract my wings right now, can you guys please unwrap them?"

"You were injured, Poe," Finn says softly. "I'm afraid--" he can't say it, but he needs to. Breathe in, breathe out. He can do this.

"Your wings were damaged," Rey finishes, and Finn shoots her a thankful look.

Poe is quiet, and Finn heart breaks for him.

"They feel fine," Poe says softly. "Are you--are you sure?"

"The doctors numbed them," Rey explains. "You can't feel them now, but--I'm so sorry." Rey takes a moment to gather her courage, and Finn sees the tears that she's forcing back.

"They want to remove them later," Finn says softly. "They think it'll be . . . easier."

"No," Poe says, getting a little disturbed, and starting to move around. "I can feel them, and I feel fine. Take off the damned bandages, please. Just check, for me."

Finn meets Rey's eyes. They'll have to show him to prove it to him.

"Maybe we should go get a doctor, " Finn suggests, but Rey shakes her head.

"We can do this," Rey says softly, and she meets Poe's eyes for a moment.

"Please," Poe says again, and they start to unbandage him slightly.

Finn frowns when he sees unblemished skin and an undamaged section of the wings.

"Pull it off a little more here," Rey says, and she holds part of the bandage down so that Finn can pull the section away.

And still, nothing--"I saw them," Finn says. "This isn't what it looked like."

Rey and Finn start pulling the bandages off the rest of the way until they're looking at his wings, which expand broadly and beautiful until he retracts them, and it's just skin.

"What the hell?" Rey asks.

"I told you I was fine," Poe says, turning around and facing them. "What's wrong?" he asks, but Finn and Rey just close the distance and hug him tightly.

This, Finn thinks, is a miracle.

~~

No one knows how to explain it at first, and after the doctors do tests and pronounce him to be perfectly fine, they can't do much other than move on with their lives.

"Maybe it has something to do with the wings," Rey suggests, but Poe shakes his head.

"They've been injured before, but they've never healed like that," Poe says.

"Weird," Finn says, and the others agree.

~~

It isn't until Rey comes back from training with a slash through her palm, and tries to dress it herself, that they realize that it's not a miracle. It's Finn.

"Let me do it," Finn says, shaking his head, and gently taking her hand.

"I'm fine," Rey says with a shrug. "Absolutely fine."

Finn reaches for something to clean the wound, but when he looks back down at her hand, he frowns. "You are fine," he says. "Not even a scratch."

"What?" Rey says, looking down at her hand, perfectly unblemished and uninjured. "You healed me," she says.

"What?" Finn shakes his head. "No, I couldn't have."

"I had an injury, then you touched me, and I healed--" her eyes widened. "You healed Poe too."

"That's ridiculous." He doesn't want to get excited, but his heart feels like it's about to beat out of his chest.

"Let's go see," Rey says, and she grabs his hand and pulls him off to medical.

Finn has found his power, he realizes, completely dazed.

~~

The thing about the gift is that it makes him feel more helpful, but it doesn't fundamentally change anything.

This is who he is.

He tells Rey and Poe this, and they just smile at him, and exchange a strange look.

"We told you that," Poe points out.

"I just expected it to be different," Finn says, shrugging slightly.

"It's part of you, and so we love it. But you don't love Poe for his wings, or me for my ridiculous strength--which, if you think about it, would be a lot more useful with invincibility."

"Of course," Finn agrees. "I didn't just mean you."

"You are who you are," Poe says. "The gift is just a gift."

It takes a while for him to internalize that, but he eventually realizes it to be true.

He loves, he's loved, and he's happy. That's all he needs.


End file.
